ISU students participate in March Through the Arch ahead of graduation

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - Idaho State University kicked off their graduation activities with a bang.

ISU graduates participated in the annual March Through the Arch ceremony on Friday.

The ceremony takes place each fall when new students pass through the arch southward into campus.

In December and May, graduates go northward back through the arch symbolizing their exit from the university.

Former Alumni Director Valorie Watkins was the bell ringer for the ceremony. 

Watkins helped start the tradition back in 2000.

"In my first year or two as an alumni director back in 1995, it occurred to me that we needed to have a tradition established that students would connect to, and marching through the arch onto campus as their welcoming ceremony was something that I thought we should do," Watkins said. "So that started then to follow that, when students graduate, they need to know that they're leaving campus and going into the wider world."

A total of 2,129 graduates will receive their degrees and certificates during ISU's spring commencement ceremonies going on Saturday in the ICCU dome.